There are over 14,000 new patients diagnosed with myeloma every year, and there is a need for better treatment and management strategies for this group of patients.
In most cases of multiple myeloma, reciprocal chromosomal translocations, mediated by errors in immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) switch recombination or somatic hypermutation are found to occur in plasma cells as they are generated in germinal centers. These translocations disregulate an oncogene that is repositioned in proximity to a strong IgH enhancer. The three most common chromosomal partners identified in these transformation events are chromosome 11 (at band q13 (i.e., 11q13); cyclin D1 locus), chromosome 4 (at band p16 (i.e., 4p16); FGFR3 and MMSET loci), and chromosome 16 (at band q23 (i.e., 16q23); c-maf locus). The translocation t(11;14)(q13;q32) is the most common IgH translocation in multiple myeloma.